Routine Interruption
by SouthernBell86
Summary: Hermione's life has settled in to become peaceful and routine, just the way she likes it. Draco's life has somehow led him to be teaching himself to ride a bicycle in Muggle London. How have their lives arrived at these places? Where will this interruption take them both?
1. Chapter 1 - A disturbance

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any other intellectual property of the great J.K. Rowling. These characters are not my own, I'm simply performing a thought experiment with them.

Hermione breathed the fresh park air in deeply. Her morning jogs were really what kept her centered these days. Living in London working for the Ministry of Magic afforded little free time, and her status as one of the Golden Trio after the Final Battle assured that she had no anonymity anywhere there was a wizard or witch. She started spending most of her personal time in Muggle London to escape it all and live a normal life.

There was a comfort in the routine of it though. Wake up, run, shower, apparate to the C.A.T. (Celebrity Apparition Target) of the day, work 10 or more hours in her new role as an Unspeakable then apparate home and catch dinner with either Muggle friends or the Weasleys. It was boring in the best sense of the word. The most unpredictable part of her life was where the C.A.T. would be the next day – no more living life on the edge for her. Routine was her comfort zone.

Breathe in, two three four. Breathe Out. Breathe in, two three four. Breathe out. Zoning out, her thoughts focused to her breathing and frequency of her steps she achieved her runner's high each time.

She was just about finished with mile two of her four mile run when – CRASH! A cyclist ran into her – only she could have sworn she hadn't heard one anywhere near her. Her last thought before losing consciousness was to wonder if it was possible Voldemort had kept a few Death Eaters around on bikes to track her down.

* * *

Shit. Shit. Shit. This wasn't supposed to happen. Granted, all bets were off as a 24 year old wizard trying to teach himself to ride the bike for the first time. It just looked like such a damn convenient way to get around when you couldn't apparate. Perhaps thinking about how much easier apparition was to biking had led to the momentary lapse in concentration on his balance. Focusing on how badly he wanted to get to the end of the trail without crashing today may have been a bad idea as well. Either way, one moment he was upright on his new bicycle halfway through the path and the next he was at the end of the path on the ground next to a suspiciously curly head of hair.

He took a moment to catch his breath before trying to move. He mentally assessed that he hadn't splinched any of his favorite body parts and that he hadn't acquired any suspicious new metallic parts. All seemed in order as he sat up and he thanked his lucky stars he was at the top of his class at Hogwarts. Almost the top anyway. It wasn't his fault that ruddy Hermione "brightest witch of her age" Granger was in his year. Any other year he would have sailed through at the top without trying half as hard as he had.

Oh, the curly haired lump still wasn't moving. He should check on that, right? What could he do though? What was the muggle way to approach this? Playing it safe he used one finger to poke her shoulder. Nothing. Maybe she just felt shy without an introduction? Who knew what kind of customs muggles might observe under such a circumstance?

"Excuse me, miss!" He bit his lip. "It seems you've collided with my bicycle, would you mind saying something or sitting up so I know you're alright?" Nothing.

"Pardon me, madam, it appears that you've taken a fall – is there any way I can help you?" This time he started hearing some moaning and took that as a good enough sign to stand up and prop his bike up on its stand. He turned around and knelt close to her and started brushing her hair out of her face only to realize that this ball of hair wasn't just some random muggle, but the most influential ball of hair of his entire life. By some rotten luck Draco Malfoy had managed to run over Hermione Granger in a freak jogging/apparating bicycle accident. Shit. Shit. Shit

* * *

Chapter Prompt: One Character crashes their bicycle into another.

Author's Note: This will definitely be a Dramione story. I really don't know where the story will go, I'll be using a different prompt for each chapter, building off the last. I just want to spend an hour here and there writing about a few characters I love in interesting situations. Hope you enjoy! If you have any fun prompts, please do let me know. I plan on keeping this story pretty PG-13, nothing I'd be embarrassed to have future employer's find.


	2. Chapter 2 - Smooth Talker Toffee

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any other intellectual property of the great J.K. Rowling. These characters are not my own, I'm simply performing a thought experiment with them.

* * *

Waking up with her head in Draco Malfoy's lap wasn't exactly how she had expected her day to go. She'd been having relatively Malfoy free days for the past few years now, excepting the odd charity gala or award ceremony. It wasn't like she'd avoided him, life was just like that. You barely see somebody for seven years and then one day your body is violently thrust into trying to occupy the same space as their bicycle.

"Malfoy?" Hermione tried getting his attention but it didn't work since he seemed more occupied with trying to find something in his bag. "Malfoy!"

"Hi Granger! Glad you finally woke up, wasn't sure if I had another Pepper Up potion down here." Malfoy let the bag drop and kept speaking just as if her head was not on his lap.

"Why is my…um…how?" Her head was still spinning a bit and she was starting to notice how soft his trousers were.

"Oh dear, still not thinking clearly? I hope you don't have a concussion, I don't have any Concussed Coughing Drops." Draco slowly massaged her scalp in counter clockwise circles that made it hard for her to think. "I know it was brilliant for the Weasleys to invent a candy for that, but I just never could get into something that was designed to make you cough and was later discovered to heal concussions."

"Oh! My bag! Fred gave me a box of candy for my birthday." Hermione tried sitting up to find her bag, but Draco's firm left hand on her shoulder prevented this.

"Wait, just calm down. I'll try to find it, but until then you've got to remain still. Where's your bag? Do you always go jogging with candy?" He asked with a small smirk.

"Do you always bike into joggers? In my shorts, in the zipper pocket it's shrunk." Hermione was starting to feel a bit woozy and was wondering if the coughing fit would be worth it or not.

Draco's hands froze for a couple seconds before removing themselves from her head. "Your shorts, right, so should I retrieve that or…?" He trailed off slightly as he used his hands to gesture vaguely.

"Oh gods Malfoy, just roll me over and find the back zipper," she started giggling at what she was saying to Draco Malfoy of all people. "Do you know how to work a zipper? You pull it, it's a muggle clothes fastening technology invented in America."

"Of course I know how to use a zipper – I'll turn you over slowly okay?" Draco muttered something unintelligible under his breath as he slowly lifted her shirt to reveal the zip in the back. Slowly unzipping it he took out a doll sized evening bag with miniature sequins on it. "Is this the famous charmed bag we've all heard so much about?"

"Yes, well I mean, I've improved it quite a bit and replaced some of the spells but it's the same fabric – _engorgio_!" Hermione had been intending to increase the size of her bag, but all she managed to do was to give Draco one very large bicycle wheel.

"Nice wandless magic there! Better let me handle this before all the muggles start wondering where I found such a strange bike." He enlarged the bag and gave it to her to sift through.

"Actually the first bikes all had one wheel larger than the other-" She wasn't able to finish her sentence before Draco interrupted with some not so helpful things to say about the history of inventions not being relevant to the situation.

"Found it!" She took the box of candy out of her purse and opened the lid. "Now, what was the password?"

"Did Weasley really give you a password for a candy box?" Draco laughed out loud.

Hermione not seeing the humor in this began scolding him about the dangers of new potions and inventions and the need to for better safety protocols in the wizarding world. She was just about to get started explaining how child-locks worked in the muggle world when things started spinning a bit and she remembered her mission.

"Right, password. I solemnly swear I'm up to my ears in good." With that the box popped open and displayed the world's most miraculous candy box. Draco gingerly picked up the box and selected one Concussed Coughing Drop and one Smooth Talker Toffee to give her.

"If you eat the Smooth Talker Toffee first the coughing shouldn't be so bad." He offered with a smile.

"Really? Have you tried that? No negative side effects?" Hermione asked looking intently at the two candy pieces set before her.

"Yeah, I was taking Smooth Talkers during a cold I had last year when I got hit pretty badly during a boxing match and took a Concussed Coughing Drop before I even thought about it. I wasn't coughing and didn't see any stars – the only side effect seemed to be about half an hour of hiccups." Draco told the short story quickly just like he was talking to an old friend and they laughed comfortably together as if they had actually been friends.

"So, I guess I should just go for it?" Hermione asked nervously.

"Yeah, I mean you could take something for the hiccups, but who knows what that might cause." He said with a grin. "Anyway, I'm pretty sure it'll be better than a concussion."

"Ok," she said before taking her first bike of Smooth Talker Toffee. "So mind telling me what you were doing here in this park failing at bicycle riding?"

"It's a pretty boring story, I'm sure you have much better things to talk about." He shifted his eyes to concentrate on her bag while answering, which she took to mean that the subject was off limits.

She popped in the Concussed Coughing Drop nervously. "Right, well what've you been up to with your life since we graduated?"

He smirked and laughed. "Mostly just apparating with inanimate objects to crash into pretty girls, the benefits are pretty good and it really makes a difference you know?"

At this they both laughed and settled into a comfortable moment of silence before Hermione realized that her head wasn't throbbing and neither was she uncontrollably coughing.

"I think it worked! Will you let me sit up now?" Hermione asked softly.

"Sure, should be alright." He nodded as she sat all the way up and shaking her head a bit.

"Whoo, okay I think this will be alright. Now what are we going to do about your total lack of control on a bicycle? I don't think anyone has ever failed quite as astronomically on one as you just did," she teased with a smile on her face.

"I don't know, maybe if I had a good teacher I could avoid any future incidents," he quite seriously nodded back at her. "I mean, apparating into pretty girls is good fun and all, but I suppose I could get in trouble if I accidentally landed on a bloke instead."

"The only issue will be finding a teacher who has mastered both modes of transportation," she said joining his farce. "They are each quite tricky and you really need someone who has ridden a bike and resisted the urge to apparate simultaneously to get you over the hump."

"Oh gods, I suppose experience like that is going to cost me," he said with mock sincerity. "Do you think such a teacher would accept dinner as a trade?"

"Dinner could be an acceptable trade," she answered with a widening smile. "Depending of course on the quality and general acceptability of the food served."

"Quality and general acceptability? Are you out of your mind Granger? McDonalds is known as nothing but the best in every country it has established itself in!" He said stone faced with only the slightest twitch of his lip in humor.

"You're right, of course, it was rude of me to imply otherwise," she stood up and turned around waving at him. "Well, good luck finding your teacher!"

Draco laughed again and managed to school his face long enough to muster a serious sounding "WAIT!"

"Yes?" She asked stopping without turning around. "Did you need any further advice?"

"No, but I just realized that you should be an adequately qualified teacher," he smiled at her. "Please Miss Granger, would you help me learn to ride my bike?"

"Umm, this isn't some fantasy thing is it? Getting muggle-borns to teach you mundane muggle skills?" Hermione still hadn't turned to face him as she asked, so he took that as a sign she really wasn't sure why he was asking her of all people.

"Trust me, it's the fantasy of every pure-blood at Hogwarts our year to learn anything from you," he said sincerely. "Muggle or otherwise, they all just want a little of your genius to rub off on them."

She turned to him with a look of genuine confusion. "Malfoy, this is so weird being nice to each other and talking like we're friends – are you sure the Smooth Talker Toffee didn't have another side effect with the Concussed Coughing Drops? Make you enjoy the company of strange men?"

"Um, it might have. I kind of like this side effect though if that's all it is," he said sincerely before continuing and lightening the mood again. "Although I would think I'd have remembered enjoying the company of any strange men!"

"Ha! Okay, good point. I'd love to teach you to ride, so here's my first lesson," she said with her hands on her hips. "Focus on the present – your present time and place. Learn to be content with where you are and you'll probably have fewer apparition accidents."

He privately thought that he was already more content with where he was and it didn't have anything to do with focusing on the present. This was going to be a great way to learn to ride.

* * *

Prompt: One of them teaches the other to ride a bike.

Author's Note: Thanks so much for the Reviews, Favorites and other positive feedback! It's very much appreciated, I assure you! Hope you like this chapter, let me know what you think!


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